Honor Among Thieves
by Chetara
Summary: Two weak thieves get a chance to become strong, and seizing it, they slowly grow stronger and more and more famous through the help of two mentors in the form of women.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH. I do share my other characters with Ariana Miyuki though

Chapter 1

You've heard of the legendary bandits Youko Kurama and Kuronue right? Everyone has. Well it might surprise you that they weren't always as good at stealing as they are now. When I met them they wee two nobodies so that someone would know they existed...

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800 Years Earlier

"Stop thieves!" A shopkeeper yelled at the retreating forms of a silver kitsune ad chimera with long hair that was tied back into a ponytail.

"Looks like we got some new trinkets Youko." The chimera laughed. "He's not even coming after us."

"Don't celebrate yet. Look." Youko pointed ahead. The city guard was blocking the street ahead.

"Great." Kuronue sighed. "Since when do they bring out the entire City Guard for a shop theft?"

"They don't." A girl stated from behind them. Youko and Kuronue spun around. Kuronue began to draw his weapons.

"Take it easy. We're on your side." One of the girls stated calmly. She was an ookami with shoulder length black hair. The tips were red. Her ears and tail matched and she had gold eyes.

"I'm Ari, that's Chetara. The other girl stated cheerfully. She was a neko with purple hair and black ears and tail. Her eyes, like Chetara's were gold.

"How can you be so cheerful at a time like this?" Chetara asked.

"Because this is where it gets fun." Ari grinned.

"Right. Time to fight for our lives."

"Why fight when you can sneak?" Ari looked innocent.

"That's not fun and we need to stay in practice."

"Sneaking is fun" Ari blinked.

"Sneaking and getting caught. We have to give them some hope so they'll continue to try and catch us."

Ari sighed. "Wow. You sound vain." Then she grinned. "Let's go!"

"Not my fault that they give up to easily." Chetara laughed and walked into an alley. Ari ran after her, and Youko Kuronue stole after them.

The alley they were in the girls split up and went into two different alleys. Ari took Kuronue and Chetara took Youko. They met up outside the city.

"Well that was pointless. They didn't even attack." Chetara sighed.

"Maybe they didn't see us?" Ari suggested.

"Probably."

"Sucks. Let's go home."

"Not yet. Those two from earlier are still behind us. We don't want them following to our home do we? After all they are competition. Not very good but still..."

"Well, let's just lose them along the way." Ari suggested.

"We'll split up when I give a sign." Chetara started running. "Keep track of them and don't go anywhere our place until you can't feel them."

Ari grinned at the boys. She mouthed 'Same place, same time' and took off. The boys were confused but took after the two. They lost them remotely fast, or so they thought until Chetara hit a tree knocking her out, and Ari smacked into a bush, taking flight painfully, landing on her face/neck on landing.

"Well that was easy." Kuronue remarked looking down at them.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**A few hours later Chetara woke up. She had no idea where she was. She sat up quickly looking around. She saw the kitsune from earlier.**

"**Where am I?" **

"**Forest." Youko nodded. "Sorry, we didn't get you somewhere safe."**

"**And why are we in the forest?" Chetara asked. She moved closer to the fire. It was COLD. **

"**Well it wouldn't be right to take you two to the orphanage." Youko shrugged. Kuronue was studying Ari.**

"**You live in the orphanage?" Chetara continued to move forward until she was practically in the fire. **

**Youko nodded. "Yeah. Place is horrible."**

"**Never been to one. I'm an orphan to though." **

"**Well, we get some food and shelter." Youko smiled slightly.**

"**We get that on our own." Chetara stuck her hands in the fire.**

**Youko blinked at her. "Fire… I'm a plant elemental."**

**Chetara glared at him. "That probably wasn't the best thing to say considering I was knocked out by a TREE."**

"**My fault." Youko admitted. "I didn't mean to hit you, I meant for them to stop you on the side…"**

**Chetara stood snarling. The flames rose with her. She was to mad to say anything.**

"**We didn't know where we were…" Youko blushed. "We wouldn't have been able to get home."**

**You would've found your way eventually." Chetara snarled.**

"**Or starved." Youko winced.**

"**You pissed her off." Kuronue looked up.**

"**You just said you're a plant elemental! You can GROW food!"**

"**Carnivores." Kuronue said. "No plants."**

"**Haven't you heard of hunting?"**

"**We never learned." Kuronue winced.**

"**You find a rabbit, deer, bird, ect. and you kill it! What's so hard about that?!?"**

**Ari groaned "Chetara let's pretend it's the morning after New Years. Be silent."**

"**You stay out of this."**

"**Chetara, my head feels like an 8-hour binge the morning after. Please."**

**Chetara snarled again and left taking most of the flames with her.**

**Ari curled up in a ball. Youko and Kuronue worked on building the fire. **

**Chetara stormed back to their hideout leaving a burnt path of foliage behind. When she got there she let the fire continue to burn off her energy and went to sleep.**

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**The next day, Ari was feeling better, as she chatted with the boys. Youko gave her natural painkillers and Kuronue flirted. Ari wasn't even up for that yet, but just smiled at him. Finally Chetara returned.**

"**Still here?" Chetara asked Ari as she walked into the clearing.**

**Ari nodded. "Hi Chetara!"**

"**I see you're feeling better."**

"**Youko gave me painkillers." **

**Chetara glanced at him. She was in a better mood but she was freezing. She didn't have enough energy to make a spark.**

"**Do you have a headache?" Youko offered.**

"**No… It's cold and I drained my energy." Chetara sighed. **

**Youko gestured to the fire.**

"**It's not hot enough. It's weak."**

**Youko sighed. The tree branches leaned down breaking over the fire. Ash branches. The fire began to animate.**

**Chetara ran forward and almost fell face first into it. "Warmth!"**

**Youko laughed, Kuronue was sulking, and Ari was grinning. Chetara started talking to the fire. She needed energy and it owed her.**

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**A few hours later Chetara had managed to get enough energy to regulate her body temperature. **

"**Finally." She moved away from the fire.**

**Youko smiled at her. Kuronue tried to make another move on Ari, getting rejected. Youko added more wood to the fire.**

**Chetara walked over to Ari. "Are you gonna be ok?"**

**Ari smiled at Chetara. "Fine. Everything's just… dizzyish."**

"**Tripped on a bush." Ari blinked. **

"**I ran into a tree." Chetara's stomach growled. "I'll be back. Name your meat."**

"**Fish, always!"**

"**Ok." Chetara left.**

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**When Chetara came back she was dragging a deer by the hind legs. She sported bruises. She also had a string of fish for Ari. Chetara dropped the deer, gave the fish to Ari, and went back to the fire to clean a wound in her side. Kuronue exchanged a look with Youko, and they, out of hunger, began to clean the deer. Chetara soon discovered that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't reach the wound.**

"**Can I help you?" Youko asked.**

**Chetara stared at him. "No." She tried to curl into a ball in an attempt to get closer to the wound. **

**Youko, realizing what he'd said, winced, taking seeds from his hair to make a poultice. Chetara watched him suspiciously. **

**Youko brought over the poultice on a leaf. "May I?" He gestured to her wound.**

**"No. I don't even know what that stuff is." **

**"Healing herbs." Youko stated.**

**"Whatever. No." She tried to lick the wound again. **

**Youko gently intercepted her attempted lick and started to apply the poultice. Chetara bit him but he ignored her and continued to apply the sticky green stuff. Chetara snarled at him when he finished applying the application. **

"**Did I hurt you?" Youko asked worried. **

"**Stupid fox." Chetara snarled. She grabbed Ari and what remained of the food then stormed off.**

"**Wait!" Youko called chasing after them. He looked a little wide eyed. "Don't leave."**

"**Why shouldn't we?" Chetara demanded.**

"**Because… we can't get back to town." Youko winced.**

**A small ball of fire appeared. **

"**That will lead you out of the woods." Chetara started walking again.**

**Youko watched her depressed. **

"**Looks like we're abandoned Kuronue. Again."**

"**No one wants us." Kuronue sighed.**

"**We don't have the time or room for novices." Chetara stated not turning around.**

**Youko and Kuronue sighed dejected.**

"**Alone again." They walked away.**

"**Chetara." Ari whined.**

"**You know what needs to be done." Chetara smiled. "They passed the test." She took the food to their home leaving Ari to fetch the boys. **


End file.
